Hendrik van Balen (1575 - 1632)

Like Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), van Balen was a pupil of Adam van Noort (1562– 1611). In 1592 he became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke, of which he was dean in 1609/10. His position as dean of the Guild of Romanists in 1613 indicates that he had spent time in Rome. His oeuvre shows biblical and mythological subjects, painted on small or medium-sized panels of wood or copper. His frequent collaboration with other artists was typical, due to specialism in Dutch painting. Thus Hendrik added groups of naked nymphs, goddesses or children to paintings by artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625), Joos de Momper (1564–1635) and his pupil Franz Snyders (1579–1657). Like Brueghel, he often set arrangements of flowers, fruit, hunting trophies and the like in the foreground. This gives rise to problems of attribution between Brueghel, van Balen and his son Jan van Balen (1611–1654).

Author: Ducke Astrid

Literature: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, S. 68